This is not quite one of those times: Responsibility for the outcome isn’t split 50-50, but it’s close.

The Hotline would argue Oregon’s fumbles and clock mismanagement were responsible for 60 percent of the outcome, while Stanford’s resilience and big plays accounted for 40 percent.

To its credit, the Cardinal staggered but did not fall, and it made all the plays it had to make (with help from a missed PI call in the end zone).

But the Ducks whiffed badly on two occasions: The botched snap that resulted in an 80-yard scoop-and-score for the Cardinal, and the final offensive series of regulation.

Stanford had one timeout. Take a knee three times, and the Ducks would have punted from midfield with about 15 seconds left.

Sure, there’s the risk of a bad snap. But because there would have been so little time left and because Stanford would have been without timeouts, the take-a-knee-and-punt course strikes us as a far better option than handing the ball to a freshman against an opportunistic defense.

It’s the second consecutive visit to the Oregon Trail in which a late fumble by the opposition led to a Stanford win.

(Remember Oregon State’s gaffe on a Thursday night last October?)

Whatever happened in Autzen … however it happened … the result was another classic in this rivalry.

How we’d rank ’em (this decade):

1. Stanford 17, Oregon 14 (OT) in 2012. A three-touchdown underdog, Stanford smothers the No. 1 Ducks in Autzen, a loss that eventually keeps Oregon out of the BCS title game.

2. Oregon 38, Stanford 36 in 2015. Late Stanford fumbles contribute to the Ducks’ victory, which likely keeps Stanford out of the College Football Playoff. (It was the Cardinal’s second and last loss of the season.)

3. Stanford 38, Oregon 31 (OT) in 2018. Has the potential to climb the list, depending on the eventual postseason implications.

4. Stanford 26, Oregon 20 in 2013. Tyler Gaffney and the Cardinal hold off a late Marcus Mariota-led rally to slay the undefeated Ducks, who would lose their second game a few weeks later.

5. Oregon 53, Stanford 30 in 2011. The sixth-ranked Ducks have too much speed for Andrew Luck and the undefeated, third-ranked Cardinal.

But the story from Corvallis was an offense that looked, on the surface, a lot like the between-the-tackles attack we saw from the Wildcats under Rich Rodriguez.

The difference Saturday was Khalil Tate’s role: He wasn’t the primary ballcarrier, rushing four times and throwing only 17 passes.

Instead, Tate spent the game handing the ball to JJ Taylor, who rushed for 284 yards, and Gary Brightwell, who rushed for 113.

The Wildcats are 2-2 with plenty of winnable games left. We’re not ready to cross them off the list of South contenders.

4. The schedule could save USC and Clay Helton.

This is not to suggest any game is a lock for the Trojans, not with all their issues on both sides of the ball. But let’s just game this out …

Road game: Arizona, Utah, Oregon State and UCLA

Home games: Colorado, ASU and Cal.

Put another way: No Washington, no Stanford, no Oregon … five games against the wobbly South … a slew of teams the Trojans should beat even at less than their best.

The sense here is that 6-3 wins the South. To hit that bar, USC needs to go 5-2.

Take another look at the schedule with 5-2 in mind.

Yep, it’s entirely feasible for the Trojans, flawed as they have looked.

5. On the officiating.

The Fuming Fan Base of the Week Award goes to both WSU and Oregon. (Not a tie! Yes, a tie!)

The Ducks are upset, first and foremost, about the overturned touchdown by Jaylon Redd that preceded the scoop-and-score. But that was the right call: Redd was out of bounds before the ball crossed the line.

The big miss in Eugene was the PI non-call on Stanford’s Paulson Adebo in the end zone.

Cougar Nation, meanwhile, is apoplectic about the non-targeting call on USC’s Porter Gustin, who appeared to initiate a helmet-to-helmet collision with WSU’s Gardner Minshew.

I checked with the conference. The play will be reviewed during the week — as are many — but there is no punishment forthcoming for Gustin because no penalty was called.

That was a game-changer: Had Gustin been flagged, the Cougars would have been awarded a first down in the red zone on their final drive.

Instead, they had to attempt a 38 yard field goal that was blocked.

However, the Hotline would argue that Gustin/Minshew isn’t the biggest targeting whiff of the opening month in the Pac-12:

The missed helmet-to-helmet by Auburn against Washington QB Jake Browning was worse, and came at a vital point in a momentous game for the conference.

Those were Big Ten officials.

These … Friday in the Coliseum … were from the Pac-12.

Targeting can be difficult to officiate. There will be more misses, rest assured.

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